Dangerous and Dishonest Men: The International Bankers of Louis XIV's France


Book Description

At the start of the eighteenth century Louis XIV needed to remit huge sums of money abroad to support his armies during the War of the Spanish Succession. This book explains how international bankers moved French money across Europe, and how the foreign exchange system was so overloaded by the demands of war that a massive banking crash resulted.




Maritime Power and the Power of Money in Louis XIV's France


Book Description

A detailed analysis of the limitations of the system which relied on intermediaries and private suppliers to finance, build and maintain the French navy. Although Louis XIV's navy did not "win" in any recognisable sense during the wars of the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, it was nevertheless one of the largest military institutions of the entire early modern world at a key moment in the evolution of the modern state and modern warfare. This book examines how Louis XIV's navy was financed, arguing that the way the state spends money, and the relative efficiency and accountability of that spending, is fundamental to understanding the effectiveness of a military system. It outlines how the French crown depended on fiscal intermediaries and private suppliers, explores how its failure to control the spending and activities of its contractors fundamentally limited France's strategic possibilities at sea, and discusses how these structural problems were progressively and disastrously exposed as the state's financial situation deteriorated. The book sets the activities of the French navy in the wider context of the wars of the period, showing that France necessarily had to give precedence to the funding of its army. Overall, the book highlights the limitations of the contractor state, demonstrating that early modern navies were both too complex and investment-heavy to be entirely outsourced.




Mercenary Swedes


Book Description

Four hundred years ago, France persuaded Sweden to fight on its side against Germany in the war between Protestant and Catholic states. Rather than some lofty purpose, what convinced Sweden was money. Under the 1631 agreement, Sweden received French subsidies to the tune of 400,000 riksdaler a year for five years. This was only the first in a long line of subsidy agreements between the countries. Sweden enjoyed French largesse for no fewer than 166 years. In this wide-ranging international study, Svante Norrhem traces the patterns of cooperation between the two countries. With his unique command of the archival material, he discusses the reasons for the agreements and the mutual dependency that resulted.




Private Bankers in the Italian 19th Century


Book Description

The book analyses the role of private bankers who were pivotal in modernizing the economic and financial system of Italy in the XIX century. To achieve this they needed to interact with the international haute banque to organize and place the public loans and the large investments associated with the joint-stock companies. The theme of reputation, which is currently at the centre of the historiographical debate, is fundamental for the study of the private banker figures, whose professional success is linked to the limitless trust accorded to them by their circle of personal contacts. Historiography has studied the role of Italian bankers in the trade, credit and international finance during the modern age (XVI-XVIII centuries), but it has not analysed the banking system in the XIX century and its national and international relations. The case study of Banca Parodi of Genova fills the historiographical gap concerning the role of private bankers and banking institutions in Italy, highlighting the network between the Parodi family and the international haute banque; one of the most emblematic cases is the Rothschild family. The book presents a re-elaborates series of unpublished data, placing them at the disposal of the scientific community and analyses the role of private bankers in the development of Italian banking institutions in the XIX century to launch a scientific debate.




Queen of Versailles


Book Description

Explores the life and court career of Madame de Maintenon. A study in queenship, it reveals how the dynamics of power and gender operated within the realms of early modern high politics, church-state affairs and international relations while providing unique insights into the Sun King and his court.




The Third Reign of Louis XIV, c.1682-1715


Book Description

The personal rule of Louis XIV, following on from a long period of royal minority and apprenticeship, lasted 54 years from 1661 to 1715. But the second half of this personal rule has, until recently, received significantly less scholarly attention than the 1660s and 1670s. This has obscured some of the very real changes and developments that occurred between the early 1680s and the mid-1690s, by which time a new generation of younger royals had come to prominence, France was engulfed in international war on a greater scale than ever before, and the king was visibly no longer as vigorous or healthy as he had once been. The essays in this volume take a close look at the way a new set of political, social, cultural and economic dispensations emerged from the mid-1680s to create a different France in the final decades of Louis XIV’s reign, even though the basic ideological, social and economic underpinnings of the country remained very largely the same. The contributions examine such varied matters as the structure and practices of government, naval power, the financial operations of the state, trade and commerce, social pressures, overseas expansion, religious dissent, music, literature and the fine arts.




The Routledge History of Global War and Society


Book Description

The Routledge History of Global War and Society offers a sweeping introduction to the most significant research on the causes, experiences, and impacts of war throughout history. This collection of twenty-seven essays by leading historians demonstrates how war and society studies have dramatically expanded the chronological, geographic, and thematic breadth of the field of military history. Each chapter addresses the ways in which recent scholarship has integrated cultural, ethical, environmental, medical, and ideological factors to explain both conventional conflicts and genocide, terrorism, and other forms of mass violence. The broad scope of the collection makes it the perfect primer for scholars and students seeking to understand the complex interactions of warfare and those affecting and affected by conflict.




The Agency of Empire: Connections and Strategies in French Overseas Expansion (1686-1746)


Book Description

In The Agency of Empire: Connections and Strategies in French Expansion (1686-1746) Elisabeth Heijmans places directors and their connections at the centre of the developments and operations of French overseas companies. The focus on directors’ decisions and networks challenges the conception of French overseas companies as highly centralized and controlled by the state. Through the cases of companies operating in Pondicherry (Coromandel Coast) and Ouidah (Bight of Benin), Elisabeth Heijmans demonstrates the participation of actors not only in Paris but also in provinces, ports and trading posts in the French expansion. The analysis brings to the fore connections across imperial, cultural and religious boundaries in order to diverge from traditional national narratives of the French early modern empire.




Histories of War


Book Description

A global account of histories of war, from Antiquity to the present day, this thoughtful book shows how the varied modes of representation record political, cultural and social developments as well as military events. Covers all forms of discussion and commemoration from statuary to scholarship, films to novels. Important not only to those interested in the history of war but also to those concerned with culture and history in general. This erudite volume on the theory and practice of military history will interest a wide readership including both professional historians of war and those concerned with its broader philosophical dimension. The author - a well established authority in European history - has provided an informed, rigorous analysis of a difficult topic. It will delight those who seek enlightenment of the historian's craft, military or otherwise.




Lordship and State Transformation


Book Description

Although state transformation – continuous struggle and bargaining between rulers and their subjects, producing an unpredictable variety of political structures – is often overlooked, the process is crucial in assessing the organizational development of early modern composite monarchies and deserves further investigation. In Austria, the monarchy’s emergence as a great power required it to overcome several successive crises that culminated in the decades around 1700. The Habsburgs succeeded more by adjusting relations between Crown and lordships than through institution building. This unusual interaction of state and non-state actors resulted in an Austria that markedly deviated from the centralizing nation-state exemplified by Britain or France. The nascent Habsburg fiscal-financial-military regime transformed regional and local authority, leading to armed conflict and causing disintegration of the administrative and social fabric. From the mid-seventeenth century onward, power – whether local or central, or social or political – would undergo enormous changes. Grounded in extensive research into Czech archives and spanning an era from the Thirty Years’ War to the coronation of Charles VI, Lordship and State Transformation delves into the complex transitions that characterized the first instance of a balance of power in Europe, with a focus on its underresearched great power, the Habsburg monarchy.